The River Falls Wildcat baseball team had three games under their elastic navy-blue belts before they had their first on-field outdoor varsity practice this year. Between tryouts, a chicken fry fundraiser, weather cancellations, and scheduled and rescheduled UWRF Falcon games (they share the same field), it's been more off-field business than baseball for Head Coach Ryan Bishop.

"We got off to a good start on the scoreboard this year," said Bishop Monday night, "but we didn't really know where we were truly at until this week. We had a couple really good practices and they carried over into the games. It was a nice stretch to open up BRC play."

The Wildcats notched two solid wins last week against Big Rivers Conference foe Chippewa Falls. One of the biggest bright spots to date has been junior Ethan Jeffers on the mound. The junior righthander threw seven innings last Tuesday against the Cardinals, surrendering just two hits, no earned runs, and fanning five. In 11 innings on the mound this season, Jeffers is 2-0 and has not allowed an earned run.      

"Our pitching and defense are where we expected it to be," said Bishop. "Pound the zone and make the routine plays in the field.  Auden (Pankonin) and Ethan (Jeffers) have proven they make a pretty tough one-two punch for our conference starters each week."

Pankonin followed up Jeffers' gem with a masterpiece of his own. Last Thursday, at Chippewa Falls, the University of Nebraska-signee threw six no-hit innings with nine strikeouts. Pankonin sat at 97 pitches for the game after the sixth inning. WIAA rules cap a per game pitch-limit of 100.

Junior Landon McQuade came in for a no-hit seventh and secured the combined no-hitter for the Wildcats. 

"Anytime a no-hitter is thrown it’s an impressive feat. Not just on the mound, but there are always some crucial defensive plays that come into play," said Bishop.

Senior second baseman Cal Usgaard had a diving catch for the second out in the bottom of the seventh inning. 

"Players tend to lay everything on the line for their pitcher when there’s a no hitter intact," said Bishop. "Cal’s catch was the biggest play of the year so far."

The Wildcats improved to 2-0 in the BRC after the Cardinal sweep. Chippewa Falls only mustered up two hits in two games against River Falls’ pitching. 

"Auden will be the first to tell you he didn't have the consistency he would have liked," said Bishop, "which makes it even more impressive when you don't have your best stuff and can still be that effective. It's a true testament to the maturity of his mental game on the mound."

McQuade also cranked up the mental maturity in his save Thursday night.

"Landon had a tough enough job to try and close out a one run game in the last inning in a light rain," said Bishop. "Add in the pressure of a no hitter, and Landon did an especially commendable job in the mental toughness part of the task."

McQuade also leads the Wildcats at the plate batting .455 (5 for 11) on the young season. Senior Brooks Rivard is hitting .385 and leads the team with nine RBI. Colten Maves is hitting at a .364 clip.  

"Our hitting continues to get better each day as we've been working on being more intentional with our practice reps," said Bishop." "We are starting to understand that hitting BRC pitching is more than just going up to the plate and swinging. We have a lot of guys who will fill important roles on any given day."

Monday’s game against non-conference opponent Champlin Park could have been described as a Coach Bishop role-filling day. The Wildcats started a sophomore battery against the visiting Rebels in pitcher Ryan Dumond and catcher Lane Amidon.

"I thought they did some good things," said Bishop. "They only allowed four earned runs but Champlin (Park) was more mature and consistent today."

Chase Rudolph, Cal Usgaard, Cal Dumond, Quentin Anderson, and Ricco Albores each collected one hit apiece, but it was a quiet day at First National Bank of River Falls Field, as the Wildcats dropped their first game of the year by a final of 8-0.

The Wildcats, now 5-1 on the season, will head back to BRC action with two games against Eau Claire Memorial before hosting Prescott on Friday at 5 p.m. at First National Bank of River Falls Field.